Lavendamycin is a naturally occurring chemical compound discovered in fermentation broth of the soil bacterium Streptomyces lavendulae.

[citation needed] The attractive biological properties and complex structure of lavendamycin have made it the target of a large number of total syntheses.

[4] Within a few years after the structural elucidation by Doyle et al., the research groups of Kende,[5] Hibino,[6] Rao,[7] and Boger[8] had already developed total syntheses for the compound independently of one another.

[9][10][11][12] However, large numbers of steps, low overall yields (0.5–2%) or poorly available starting materials make these syntheses unattractive for further systematic development of lavendamycin and its analogs.

Notably, total syntheses by Behforouz[13] and Nissen[14] offer flexible construction of the lavendamycin scaffold at high yields.